This week was an uphill boat maintenance week, punctuated by one disaster of my own making. Fortunately, it was relatively painlessly rectified in a few days for only $600. The payoff for all my blood, sweat and tears this week is that I can now start to ready the boat for sea again as cruising season approaches. I get to go from one task list to another, yippee!! On the other hand, as summer draws to an end, some of my cruising friends are beginning to return, always a happy time!
A notable influence this week was hurricane Sergio which is now about 500 miles off the coast. It brought thunderstorms, rain, breaking waves at the harbor entrance and more than the usual surge at the dock. It also brought dramatic clouds and some nice sunrises.
 |
I went with a small group of cruising friends and locals
to try a restaurant in the Romantic Zone that specialized
in moles. It was good, but not outstanding.
|
 |
We ate on the sidewalk with dinner accompanied by a
pretty good singer. Also had a little light rain for a bit.
|
 |
The highlight of the evening came when these little kids
decided to join the singer. Very cute!!!
|
 |
Hurricane Sergio was far enough away not to be a concern,
but it did bring big surf, thunderstorms, a bit of rain and
some nice clouds!
|
Hurricane Sergio brought big surf and dangerous
breaking waves at the harbor entrance. Not every
boat that tried leaving the harbor made it safely.
(RIB photo: Eric Walker)
 |
One of the nicer consequences of a nearby hurricane:
spectacular clouds.
|
 |
| Sunrise from the Vallarta Yacht Club |
 |
Even though I see it every day, I never tire of watching
the fishermen cast their nets. The "boat" is just a
salvaged and re-purposed jet ski hull.
|
 |
One of the biggest iguanas I've seen visiting someone
else's boat.
|
 |
| The younger ones are smaller and bright green. |
 |
I changed the engine oil and filters last week. This week
was the engine zinc, transmission fluid and topping up
the coolant.
|
 |
A not-so-good idea leads to disaster: I tried taping a stick
to the transmission dipstick so I could read the level.
When I pulled it out, it caught on the lip, got pulled off
and dropped into the transmission.
|
 |
I didn't want to risk damage to the
transmission, so I paid a local mechanic
to pull it, bring it to his shop, open it up
and remove the tape and stick.
|
 |
A Canadian ex-pat, Jack Tinsley turned out to be
competent, honest and fair-priced mechanic.
Even showed up right on time, practically
unheard of in Mexico, and he didn't give
me any grief over my stupidity.
|
 |
Two days later, the tranny was back, less stick and tape.
Jack said it looked like a new transmission inside, and
all the bearings were good.
|
 |
| Re-installed and good to go. |
 |
While Jack worked on the tranny, I tackled my leaking
Skipper head. There was a small seep coming out the
pump handle shaft. First step was removing the
handle and the old packing.
|
 |
Putting in the new packing was easy, but stopping the
leak was not. The paper towel underneath was merciless
in showing the smallest leak. It took many repeated
cycles of adjusting the packing and tightening the
nut to finally get it. The nut had to be tightened all the
way to the end of the threads, so I'll be keeping my
fingers crossed.
|
 |
No drips and the paint touched up, ready to re-install
the handle.
|
 |
Even with the key and key way marked, getting
them lined up was difficult because there was
no room to see what was happening.
I finally got it after a good deal of trial and error.
|
 |
| Back together and dry. |
 |
| Looking good with the new paint! |
 |
My reward: progressing from the maintenance list
to the prep-for-cruising list. At least it's a little shorter.
|
